Keystone Asset Management Ltd – Voluntary Administration

Reply to the comment left by "Adrian Brown" at "08/02/2015 - 18:28":

No problem. I genuinely think that it will all be sorted in the end

Reply to the comment left by "Ian Murton" at "08/02/2015 - 16:09":

Hi Ian

Is Mulberry Homes the same as Mulberry Homelets Ltd? (Which appears to be a new letting agent in Rotherham set up only last year and with no accounts yet filed with Companies House).

What guarantees do they offer in terms of paying rent, as it sounds like they are just a normal letting agent that accepts DSS tenants, rather than being a R2R company. What happens if the DSS tenant fails to claim HB/LHA?, or fails to provide the additional information to the HB Dept?, or gets their benefits (JSA/ESA) sanctioned?, or abandons the room? or causes damage to the property? etc, etc,..... (or indeed just fails to pay rent, rent top up, or service charges/bills)....... does Mulberry Homes still pay the property owners (even if they are unable to collect rent from the tenants)?

Who is liable for legal costs of evictions of these tenants that Mulberry Homes source? Would this be the property owner? or Mulberry Homes?

Would Mulberry Homes be granting tenancies or licences to the DSS/LHA residents? This can make a huge difference to the eviction process, and the timescales involved (and thus the losses potentially incurred).

Mulberry Homes may well be a fantastic and trustworthy company, BUT, these, and many other questions, need to be asked, when considering any R2R company (or letting/managing agents). - Especially those that propose to let to DSS/LHA tenants.

Reply to the comment left by "Adrian Brown" at "08/02/2015 - 18:28":

Hi Adrian

David Charles Frisby, the Director of Keystone Asset Management has been involved with 16 (sixteen) companies in the past 15 years, 4 of which were dissolved, 5 he resigned his Directorship, and 7 (inc' Keystone Asset Management) are still active (of which 3 were set up in the last 15 months). Now this may all be legitimate and above board, but the companies he is currently involved with have combined assets of about £670k, but liabilities (debts) of about £3.2 million.

I would suggest you think very carefully about giving him (or his solicitor) another £10k, or indeed doing any other deals with him!

Reply to the comment left by "David` Davis" at "07/02/2015 - 18:36":

Hi David

If you contact Mark he can give you my email address. There is a creditors meeting on 11th Feb which I am sure you are aware of, perhaps you could attend this to hear from David himself. If not please feel free to email me.

Reply to the comment left by "Robert Mellors" at "08/02/2015 - 21:26":

Thank you Robert. Yes it is the same company that you state. To be honest my first concern was to get the council to stop paying my tenants benefits to Keystone so I enlisted Mulberry ASAP after I heard about the liquidation of Keystone. I have been happy with their service over the last week but have not had time to be as thorough as I should. Any advice and an email address for you would be welcome

Reply to the comment left by "Robert Mellors" at "08/02/2015 - 21:46":

Hi Robert,

Thank you very much for your further information and advice. We shall, indeed, ensure that we do not embark upon any option / solution, before ensuring that every aspect is bulletproof / watertight, as a prerequisite for proceeding.

Kind regards,

Adrian

Reply to the comment left by "Ian Murton" at "08/02/2015 - 23:27":

Hi Ian

Managing DSS/LHA residents in HMOs is incredibly difficult, as many of them are transient and will not bother to claim benefits or sort out problems, and instead will stay for as long as they can (i.e. until the bailiffs come) and then go back to sofa surfing at friend's houses until they can persuade another landlord to let a room to them. As they have no assets, and are moving address every few months, the landlord has no chance of recovering any debt. The problem is much worse if they are also causing damage or terrorising/bullying/or just causing a nuisance to, other residents.

Anyone managing HMOs let to DSS/LHA residents needs to have a very thorough understanding of the Housing Benefit regulations, and will also need to do just about everything for the resident in terms of making and progressing the HB/LHA claim. They will also need to know how to get direct deductions from the resident's other welfare benefits to pay for the ongoing service charges (utility bills) and rent arrears. If a letting agent does not have this expertise, then you can expect some serious problems (debts, nuisance, damage, etc).

The management of this type of resident is very time consuming, so if an agent says they will do it for the usual 10% management fee, then they clearly have little or no experience of this type of letting, as that would not be enough to cover their hassle/time. Letting HMOs to DSS/LHA residents is very different to letting full houses/flats (i.e. self-contained properties) to DSS/LHA tenants, and it is hard work trying to make this profitable. (Which is why I guess hostels for homeless single people can justify usually charging 3 to 4 times the LHA single room rate, AND get other government grants, AND tax breaks, AND charitable donations).

I don't think I can post my e-mail address on here, but Mark can give you this.

Reply to the comment left by "Adrian Brown" at "08/02/2015 - 23:45":

Hi Adrian

Would you give permission to Mark to give me your contact details so we can communicate after the meeting.

Regards

Ian

Hi Ian,

YES, permission granted. (Mark, do I need to do anything else to facilitate this?). I look forward to speaking / emailing with you.

Busy days today and tomorrow!

Kind regards,

Adrian